Placer-mining apparatus.



E. A. NEWMAN.

PLACER MINING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1897.

1,002,602. Patented Sept. 5,1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

v w vtmeooao E. A. NEWMAN.

PLACER MINING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1897.

Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

4SHEBTS-SHEET2. |HlllllilllllllllllHllllllgi u; C" kw E. A. NEWMAN.

PLACER MINING APPARATUS.

AP PLIOATION FILED SEPT. 13; 1897.

Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

E. A. NEWMAN. PLACER MINING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 8EPT.13, 1897.

Patented Sept. 5,1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

awvewtoz EDWTN A. NEWMAN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

PLACER-MINING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters IPatent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

Application filed September 13, 1897. Serial No. 651,542.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN A. NEWMAN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Placer-Mining Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for feeding auriferous spoil directly into gold-saving apparatus, and for separating or concentrating such spoil and saving the free gold.

It relates primarily to such apparatus adapted for the direct treatment of such spoil from auriferous beds or banks beneath water capable of floating dredges, but is applicable in part to placer mining apparatus in general.

The objects of the invention include the following, viz: to elevate the spoil to a convenient level, as to a sufficient height above the deck of a floating dredge and there to force the spoil into a bath of mercury by one and the same means; to utilize for such purpose a rotary motor and a r0- tary pump having one and the same axis and bed-frame; to raise and lower the suction pipe by the same motor; to operate a rotary drum submerged in the mercury bath by the same motor; to operate gold conveyers for positively and automatically discharging the gold from the bottom of the mercury bath by the same motor; to provide for the separation of the sand and gravel from the gold and mercury in an effective manner and to save any mercury and gold that may escape from the bath with the water and sand.

Four sheets of drawings accompany this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved apparatus in place upon a conventional floating dredge, showing the suction pipe and the parts movable therewith in the elevated position of the former; Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the apparatus and conventional dredge, showing the suction pipe and parts movable therewith by full and dotted lines respectively in the lowered and elevated positions of said pipe; Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section through the suction pipe pump and gold saving apparatus on a larger scale; Fig. 4 represents a fragmentary section on the line 4-4 Fig. 5, through a passage-forming hinge connecting the pump housing and mercury bath; Fig. 5 is a sectional end-elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 3 on the same scale;'and Fig. 6 is a sectional sideelevation projected from Fig. 5.

Like letters and numbers refer to like parts in all the figures.

The drawings show my improved apparatus as adapted for removing auriferous deposits from beneath water and then and there treating the same for the recovery of the free gold. As thus adapted, or as adapted for working dry placers in the vicinity of navigable streams, the apparatus includes a floating dredge, D, Figs. 1 and 2, which for the purposes of the present invention may be'of any known or improved construction.

For collecting the gold and elevating the same above the decks of the dredges, each dredge carries a suction excavator and elevator E, comprising a head a, a suctionpipe I), of which said head forms the entrance, a direct-acting screw 0, within said pipe, and a rotary pump d at its upper end.

The head a is rotary, and is preferably and conveniently made fast to the inlet end of the pipe I), by a bolted joint 18, and rotated by means of the pipe. It is preferably constructed, with laterally opening inlet ports on all sides, and with ingathering cutters or spoons projecting behind said ports as compared with the direction of rotation, and curved both longitudinally and transversely, withreference to effective action. Grains of gold are by this means picked up, together with the accompanying fine sand, and directed into and through the ports, so as to insure their entrance into the pipe I), and their elevation together with the more mobile gravel overlying the gold; and this is done with the least possible dis- .turbance of the surrounding gravel and sand, so as to avoid the gravitation of dislodged grains and nuggets to greater depths and perhaps out of reach. The head a is primarily designed and adapted for work in gravel banks, but may be adapted to out into bed-rock, as well as to dislodge conglomerated gravel, where pay dirt, as indicated bythe gold-saving apparatus, 'justifies following a givemlead in any direction.

The pipe is "coupled to the housing ofthe ,pump dby swivels22 and 23, one or each of which may be a ball-bearing as shown at 22 in Fig. 3. I preferone or more ballbearings 22 protected above by a strong swivel and packing joint, such as represented at 23, in Fig. 3..

From a suitable generator of electricity two conductors are extended in customary man-ner to the respectivepoles 'of an elec- 1 time motor F, of approved construction com-' prising a rotaryarmatureythe axial shaft 24 ofwhlch armature conveniently carries thepiston 25 ofthe pump d, and at the same time rotates through. gears 26 and 27,

countershafts- 28 and gears 29 and '30, the

suction-pipe b, and therethroughthe excavating head a and elevating screw 0.. The

annular ear-wheel 30 of the reducing train.

' ending t ereat is loose on thepipe b, and

made fast at will by a friction clutch 31,

Figs. 2 and 3, whichis furthermore adapt- '25 ed to yield under given stress so as to protect the excavating apparatus and driving mechanism against breaking strains. The

lower art of said housing of-the pump (1 apparatus G by a horizontal joint h, Figs. I

and a ed-frame for the motorFare con- .veniently united in a single casting f, Figs.

3, 5 and6, which is hinged directly to the end-piece or abutment g of a gold-saving 3 and 4, the slotted knuckle or shaft of which is integral with said frame-casting}, asv shown at 32, Fig. 3, while its socket, 33, Figs. '3-6, isformed on said end-piece g,

with the aid of a bolted cap a of suitable construotion. The excavator and elevator E,

raised or lowered, while the through the joint is always open.

turns on said joint 72. when its head a is passageway For raising and lowering the head a,

rotary motion is transmitted, as best shown inv Figs. 5 and 6, from the countershaft 28 onone side of the pump (Z by a pair of bevelgears34'and acountershaft 35 to a pair of i bevelegears .36, whose pitch-linewhere the gears lntermesh' is coincident with the axis of said'joint It. From this point motion is transmitted by a countershaft 37 and bevelgears 38 to a line shaft k, and from the latter to a windlass, upon which'the rope or in full lines in Fig. 2, and for a sufficient length oftime to thoroughly emptyit after itfis elevated, as in dotted lines in; Fig. 2, the head a pipe I) and screw 0. are rotated and the pump (I worked by the motor F.

The spoil thus elevated or conveyed into the casing of the pump dis discharged by the same down a diving passage 43, Figs. 2 and 3, within the end-piece 9, into the receiving end of a rotary drum 'n which is carried by a longitudinal shaft 0 within the main chamber 79 of the gold-saving apparatus G, beneath the surface of a bath of mercury. For other details of this device attention is-dirooted to Figs. 3, 5, and 6. The shaft 0 enters the mercury space throu h a stuflingbox 44,Fig.'3, and is supportef at the other end of the chamber by a cup-bearing 45; the drum 'ncomprise's screens 46, 47, 48 and 49of increasing-mesh, which retard the escape of solid matter, and its tailings-end 50 is elevated sufiiciently to insure a free discharge therefrom, while an internal spiral flange 51 insures a positive feed of the larger stones and particles therethrough. pair of fixe'dinclined screens q, Figs. 5 and 6, at

the sides of the drumn, deflect the floating matter laterally, so as to. distributethe ebullition over the surface ofthe mercury. The sides of the chamber p converge downward as shown in dotted lines in Fi 5, so as to reduce the space to be filled with mercury, and unite at bottom in a half-round trough for a screw-conveyer r, Fig. 3, which carries back nuggets and other heavy particles to the front end of the apparatus, where said conveyer-trough communicates with the chamber of an inclined conveyer 8, Figs. 3, 5 and 6, which discharges into a gold-receptacle t at top, where the. richness or poverty of the spoil can be ascertained immediately by inspection from time to time, so that the operation of the dredge may be intelligently directed. The'drum n is driven from the line-shaft is through apair of bevel-gears 52, a transverse shaft 53 having its bearings in the endpieceg, and a pair of bevel-gears 54,which latter transmit motion from said transverse shaft to the drum-shaft 0 the conveyer s' is driven from a sprocket-w eel 55, Fig. 6-, on the line-shaftk, b a sprocket-chain 56 and a sprocket-shaft 5; at the upper end of the conveyer, and the conveyer r 1s driven from the lower sprocket-shaft of said conveyer a by spur-gearing 58. a

A sluice u, Fi 1, 2 and 3, extends from the chamber 72 o the gold-saving apparatus G to the stern of the boat, where it discharges into a chute '0, Fig. 2, which carries the tailingsfarther to the rear. The floor 59 of the sluice u is provided with longitudinal corrugations, covered by removable rifiies 60 having transverse inclined slats, and interrupted by mercury troughs 61 to catch any mercury and gold dust carried out of the chamber p by the rush of water and floating. matter. -A system of pipes 62, provided with check valves 62", connects the troughs 61 with the chamber 72 so that the accumulations thereinmay discharge into the main body of mercury, without endangerlng the loss of mercury from said chamherthrough such connections. The nozzles 63, Fi 3 of said system of pipes is carried into t e iront end of the chamber so as to utilize any siphoning efi'ect at this point due to pumping the spoil into the drum n. The chute 'v is hinged to the stern of the dredge at 64, and supported in effective position by guys. When the dred e is not at work the chute is turned on en as shown at c, Fig. 2, out of the way. The spud I, Fig. 2, may be of any known or improved construction.

A pair or a gang of excavators and elevators E may be employed in place of one; the pipe I; and screw 0 maybe lengthened for deeper water by introducing additional sections the pump d may provided with a hand-hole securely covered; the excavating elevating and gold-savin apparatus E, F and G, or portions thereo may be mounted on cars for working dry placers; additional electric motors and conductors may in some cases take the place. of some of the shafting and caring; and other like modifications and etails will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. p I

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification:

1. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore specified, of an excavator and elevator, including a suction pipe, a pump in direct communlcation with said pipe for creating the suction, a gold saving apparatus containlng a mercury bath, and a passageforming hinge connecting said pump and said gold saving apparatus and through which the spoil is discharged beneaththe surface of the mercury by said ump. v

2. The combination, suhstantlally. as hereinbefore specified, of an excavator and elevator including a suction pipe, '2. pump in direct communication with said pipe for creating the suction, a gold saving apparatus, and a passage forming hinge connection between said pump and said gold saving apparatus through which the spoil is discharged into said gold saving apparatus by said pump.

3. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore specified, of an excavator and elevator including a suction pipe, a pump in direct communication with said pipe for creating the suction, a gold saving apparatus including a liquid bath, and a passage forming hinge connection between said pump and said gold saving apparatus constructed and arranged to deliver the spoil into said gold saving apparatus beneath the surface of the liquid of said bath.

4. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore specified, of an excavator and ele-v vator including a suction pip, a pump in direct communication with said pipe for creating the suction, a old saving apparatus including a liquid ath and a screen the top of which is submerged within said bath and a passage forming hinge connection between said pump and said gold saving apparatus constructed and arranged to deliver the soil beneath the submerged top of said screen.

' 5. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore specified, of an excavator and elevator including a suction pipe, a pump in direct communication with said pipe for creating the suction, a gold saving apparatus including a liquid bath, a substantially horizontal rotary drum provided with concentrating screens the top of which is submer ed beneath said bath and fixed screens at t e sides of said drum, and a passage forming hinge connection between said pump and said gold-saving apparatus constructed and arranged to deliver the spoil beneath the submerged top of said drum.

6. The combination, substantially as here inbefore specified, of an excavator-and elevator comprising a suction pipe and a rotary ump communicating therewith, a motor aving a rotary shaft which carries the piston 0 said pump, a hinge-supported bed frame common to said ump and motor, a gold-saving apparatus including a rotary drum into which said pump discharges, and mechanism transmitting motion from said shaft to the level of the axis of said hinge and from said level to said drum.

7. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore specified, of an excavatorand ele vator comprising a suction pipe and a rotary pump communicating therewith, a motor having a rotary shaft which carries the piston 0 said pump, a hinge-supported bed frame common to said pump and motor, a gold-saving apparatus into which said pump discharges including conveyers for removing gold therefrom, and mechanism trans mitting motion from said shaft to the level of the axis of said hinge and from said level to said conveyers. v I

8. The combination, substantiallyas here inbefore specified, of an excavator and elevator comprising a suction pipe and a rotary pump communicating therewith, a motor lll'i 1 pump ebmmunicating therewith, ametor bevel-gearing transmitting motion'fi om said i having a rotary shaftWhich'caI'I-ies thepis-v shaft to the level of the axis of said hinge ton 0 said pump; a hinge-supported .bed and from said level to said conveyers. H (frame common to saidipump andmo'tor, a EDWIN A. NEWMAN. '5 gold-saving apparatus into which said pump Witnesses: v I g i discharges including conveyers for removing THOS. L. EWIN, v gold therefrom, and mechanism including S. A. TERRY. 

